Bottas happy to end season with win

The Finn won his third race of the season to end on a high with Hamilton finishing second in another Mercedes one-two.

It is a really important win for me after having a pretty difficult start to the second half of the year.

Valtteri Bottas

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who had battled with Hamilton for the drivers' title only to fall away in recent weeks, came third.

So, the season ends with Hamilton world champion, as had been sealed with two races remaining.

However, in the season finale he was forced to play second fiddle to his team-mate with Bottas securing pole in qualifying and in control throughout in Abu Dhabi.

Hamilton, cut his team-mate's lead to 1.5 seconds from early in the race but wasn't able to advance any further and Bottas was able, after the race, to reflect on a successful weekend to end the season as well as paying tribute to the British world champion.

He told reporters afterwards: "It is a really important win for me after having a pretty difficult start to the second half of the year. This weekend, the whole win, I couldn't be happier to end a season like this.

"Congratulations to Lewis on the title and congratulations to Sebastian for the second place. Hopefully better next year. I was really managing the pace and the race. It was a nice feeling. The last five laps I started to go bit quicker and I am really pleased."

Hamilton, for his part, congratulated his fellow Mercedes driver, adding it was hard to overtake on the track, so he had to settle for second place.

The 2018 season begins next March in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix and it concludes back on the Yas Marinas circuit in Abu Dhabi on 25th November.

Hamilton is 2/5 to win the title again in 2018 with Vettel 7/4 and Bottas priced at 200/1.

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